The Box
by Dah Puzzle Masta
Summary: Professor Hershel Layton has died, and his closest loved ones, consisting of Meme Layton, Alphendi/Alfendi Layton, Lucas Layton, Taylor Swift-Layton, Luke, Flora, Emmy, and three other close friends are given orders to go into the profesor's workshop, where they find a box of old memories. Based on Randy Travis' "The Box". Spoilers for pretty much all the games.
1. The Will Reading

They all stood around the coffin, staring at the blank face of the once beloved Professor Hershel Layton. Most actually missed his almost cold manner, but those who knew him before the death of Dr. Andrew Schrader, the death of his mother-in-law, the last straw, missed the happy man he once was. Slowly, people started to leave, one by one they left until the only ones left were the professor's wife, who had been deemed Meme Layton, though that wasn't anywhere near her real name, Alphendy Layton, his son, Lucas Layton, his grandson, Taylor Swift-Layton, Lucas' wife, Luke, Flora, Randall, Angela, Henry, and Emmy. After they too had left and got to the professor's home, his will was read. Near the end of it, it said:

"I would like my closest loved ones to see my workshop. In one of the five porcelain cats on the table by the door, the red one to be exact, there is a way to remove the head like the top of a vase, inside this cat there is a key, and that key is the one to the workshop."

Most didn't deem themselves that close to the professor, the ones who did didn't seem to pack up the heart to go to the workshop themselves. Except for Lucas and Taylor, who, after the will reading was done, went straight over to the door of the workshop and stared at it for a little bit.

"I don't know…" Lucas said after a little bit, "You don't know what?" Taylor asked him. "I don't know if this is entirely safe." "Why on earth wouldn't it be?" "Have you ever heard the stories of grandfather all those years ago? Something happened, I'm not sure what, but it was something! He's just… unpredictable, that's all. When he changed his mind about smiling, he might have changed his mind about keeping the workshop a safe place." "You're being ridiculous, Lucas! I'm sure it's perfectly safe!" "Ridiculous or not, I'm going to go ask Dad whether or not he thinks it's safe." He turned to Taylor and looked her dead in the eyes. "You can go in if you want, but just remember why I'm not."

Taylor nodded, and Lucas turned around and walked away. She waited for him to be out of sight, and then turned to the porcelain red cat in order to get the key. She tugged at it's head in an attempt to do so… nothing. She furrowed her brow, not realizing that the professor had set the display up like a puzzle he had come across many years before, where the object was to find which cat was named red out of five different colored ones. She simply tugged at each colored cat until one of them gave way.

She tipped the cat now without a head over to get the key out. After doing so, she grabbed the key in mention and tried to stick it into the door… nothing. She sighed and took another look at the shape of the key and the key hole. She smiled as she realized that the handle of the key was what had to be used, not the teeth. This was yet another reference to a puzzle encountered a while back. She stuck the handle of the key into the door and turned it. She heard a click from the door knob, she got the door unlocked! If only the professor had seen Taylor figure those puzzles out! She would have made him smile the way only something like that accomplishment of her's could! She slowly turned the knob, and finally saw the workshop that no one but the professor had seen in years…


	2. The Workshop

**Just to avoid confusion, "Alphendy" was spelled wrong, so I've changed it to the right spelling, "Alphendi". I hope you like this chapter!**

Lucas was right, the workshop was extremely unpredictable! But even Lucas could predict that it would be dangerous, this room was quite the opposite. Some people would have referred to it as a child's heaven, others a toy wonderland. The floor was not made of wood, but carpet. The carpet was one of those that depicted a road with fabric grass and trees surrounding it, the kind of carpet you see in a child's playroom. The walls were a sky blue, with clouds and the occasional hot air balloon painted on, along with all kinds of pictures. There was a small table in the middle of the room, a desk against the wall, a closed closet door next to the desk, and toys piled on the floor and against every wall.

Taylor walked around the room observing the toys, soon discovering that these were Alpheni's belongings, since many of the toys had his name written on it. This discovery helped her to make sense of this toy-land the professor immersed himself in during his spare time. This also made her realize how strange some of the toys were, as if the little contraption with which you had to set up a display in such a way that the little robotic customer would want to buy everything wasn't odd enough, she wondered how the strict Professor Layton's son ended up with a tea set which came with ingredients to make actual tea. Although, she did recall Luke saying something about how a gentleman should drink tea and that the professor taught him that when he was young, maybe he was just trying to get Alphendi to learn how to be a gentleman? She let go of her wonderings and started to look at the pictures on the walls.

The pictures most definitely did not depict the Professor Layton she knew, who always seemed drained and unhappy, but a Professor Layton full of life and a happiness. The first picture to catch her eyes was one of the professor playing peek-a-boo with a one year old Alphendi. The picture was colored on with a black marker, making his hands look like horns and giving him a French mustache and pointed beard. One of her favorites was a group picture taken many, many years ago. According to Luke it was taken a year before Alphendi was born.

The first thing Taylor noticed in the picture was the professor, a professor that was wrinkle-free and had brown hair. But those were the only two things that had changed about his appearance, his face was pretty much identical and she was pretty sure he had the same outfit on that he usually wore. He smiled ear-to-ear, and when following his arm, Taylor noticed that he was grasping on to the back of a much younger Meme's head. It would have looked odd to someone who did not know Meme, but to those who did it was perfectly normal. And even if you didn't know her, you could figure out the by those blank, pale eyes why he was grabbing the back of her head. He was making sure that the blind woman was looking at the camera, when Flora was later on asked about it she said that Meme had been told to look strait forward and that the professor would point her head in the right direction. She was looking into the camera all right, although if you didn't realize what the professor was doing it would actually seem a bit creepy.

Meme had short, orange-ish hair and giant crossed eyes back then, now her hair was long and grey, though her eyes remained the same. Wrinkles had also covered her face over the years. Taylor looked toward the girl back then known as Emmy Altava, now known as Emmy Groskey. A lot had changed about her, her long, brown hair that was loose and free was now pure white and put up in a net to get out of her way. Nothing else had gotten much older though, smile marks were the only wrinkles and she was in oddly good shape for a woman her age. Then there was Henry Ledore, he hadn't changed a whole lot since back then, just a wrinkle here and there, that's all.

"Wow," Taylor said as she saw Henry's face. "It's hard to believe he STILL looks like that! Not to mention that Emmy is still so fit…" After Taylor had said these things, she continued to observe the photo she had found…


	3. A Puzzle, a Hat, and Seven Best Friends

**I'm back everyone! Sorry for beign gone so long! Be sure to check out my apology story, "The X Factor"!**

The next face Taylor saw was that of Randall Ascot… Same old Randall. She looked at the picture and remembered a picture that had been taken just a week or two before Professor Layton died. His appearance was not very different, as the rest of the group, all that had changed was his hair color and wrinkles. His hair was red back then, now his hair had gone grayish, but still kept some of it's red color. He wore glasses both then and now, the difference being that then he wore them for style purposes and now he needed them if he wanted to see a thing. The face he was making in the older picture was as identical to the newer one as humanly possible. He had his eyes purposely crossed, one looking up and the other looking down. He had his tongue sticking out, his head tilted, and even his cheek had oddly the same puzzle written-out with a black marker. (Ever since he was discovered in the Miracle Mask, he would have someone write a puzzle on his face, when it came off, he would have it written again!) Randall always was the odd individual, and just couldn't manage to look on the pessimist's side of a situation, no matter what…

Taylor looked over behind Randall to see a woman with whitish-blond hair and a very youthful look, Angela Ascot. Taylor furrowed her brow. How could she look EXACTLY the same way as she did back then now? Then she remembered how she always uses that anti-aging cream stuff and where that didn't work she wore makeup. She wasn't obsessed with her looks, but she Randall told her she was beautiful and she never wanted that to fade. Perhaps a little too hard, but her intentions were pure. Taylor looked at little Luke, and laughed. Was THIS the army general that would never stop talking about his dangerous adventures with the Professor? A young, baby-faced boy wearing a blue sweater and hat? Once Taylor stopped laughing, she compared the face of little Luke to that of big Luke.

"That can't be the same person, can it?" She asked herself as she remembered the aging man who always wore an army uniform and an eye-patch over his left eye. Taylor couldn't stand to look at Luke anymore, so she instead looked at the last person in the picture. Flora Reinhold, now Flora Dove. Her hair was light brown and she looked like a teenager. She retained the hair over the years. And though she didn't look EXACTLY the same as she did back then, she still retained a youthful look thanks to Angela's miracle creams.

Taylor smiled as she thought of how these people were the Professor's true friends! They were there in the picture, they were there before the picture, they were there all through his life until they all stood, with three others, beside his grave weeping for him… The last ones to leave.

Taylor sighed, and turned to the desk. It was covered in little stickers of multiple things. Mainly magician's top-hats and rabbits. She looked on top of the desk where there was a pile of toys, the Professor's top-hat, a child sized magician's top-hat, and a notebook inscribed elegantly with an L. She hesitated to, but she reached out and grabbed the larger hat and put it on her head, after a couple of times of slipping, she finally managed to get it to stay on.

Taylor then picked up the note book, pushing aside the crayons from on top of it in order to do so. She opened it to see the remains of a ripped-off page, and on the next page, a puzzle absolutely COVERED in orange, green, blue, and red crayon marks which made it hard to read the puzzle itself.

"A fearless knight… made him quake in his boots… eight letters…" She mumbled under her breath as she struggled to read what the Professor had written. What creature had an eight letter name, and made it impossible to fight back against it without shedding your own blood? She went through all the forms of me, myself and I. None of them worked. When suddenly, she squealed. She'd figured it out!

"A MOSQUITO! IT'S A MOSQUITO!" She quickly counted the letters of mosquito… eight. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK IT'S A MOSQUITO!" It made so much sense! If a mosquito bites you, and you "fight back against it", then your own blood will shed! Very little of it, but still! Just then, Lucas ran into the room, followed by Alphendi, Luke, Emmy, Randall, and Henry.

"What's the matter? What's wrong?" Lucas asked in a worried tone.

"I solved the puzzle!" Taylor answered as she practically shoved the note book into his face. Luke started to laugh, followed by everyone else except Lucas, who still seemed dazed.


	4. The Box In the Closet

A small smile then crept across Lucas' face after a little while of just staring at the puzzle. He grabbed it and scrolled through the notebook.

"Grandpa would get so happy when I would solve one of these things! It was the only time he really, truly smiled! This kind of thing really meant a lot to him!"

Meanwhile, Luke and Emmy started raiding through Alphendi's old stuff, as Alphendi himself followed them closely behind, watching. Luke bent down and picked up the little tea set mentioned earlier.

"Wow! I can't believe Alphendi has all this old junk from our old adventures! We were given this tea set when we went on the case of the Elysian Box!"

"And this robot!" Emmy exclaimed as she bent down to pick up a little, electronic person. An odd toy to be sure. "I wonder to this day whether that man meant it when he said he thought I was a goddess!" Luke laughed.

"In your dreams!" He said jokingly. Emmy gave him an equally joking glare. "Just kidding! Just kidding! I wonder that too!" And they went through the rest of their old treasures, Alphendi slowly realizing things he never knew about his beloved toys, laughing at Luke and Emmy's playful bickering and reminiscing all the while.

It was quite a while of everyone looking at things before anyone had bothered to look into the closet. The one who finally did was Alphendi. He carefully pulled the door open, revealing not a single thing, except a single box on the top shelf. He slowly pulled it down, reveling an odd sight. The box was wooden, but was painted to depict an elegant, golden box covered in diamonds and having some kind of goat on the lid. Since the box was old, it was dusty, and the paint worn and in some places chipped. Alphendi walked over to the small table and set it down solemnly. Everyone stopped what they were doing the moment they noticed Alphendi standing there, staring curiously at the box. Soon everyone was gathered around the box looking at it, except Meme, who just stood beside Angela and Flora, waiting for someone to say something.

"Why don't you open it up, Son?" Randall asked. He received no reply from Alphendi, but Alphendi did after that reach and slowly open up the top. Everyone but Meme stared at it.

"It's nothing but trinkets!" Emmy said.

Alphendi pulled out the first thing he saw, the first memory Daddy kept inside the box…


	5. The Letter, the Flower, and the Knife

**I'm going to TRY to finish this story before Friday (10 chapters left). And to those who are reading my other stories, I'm going to be on vacation for two weeks after that, so I can't guarantee there will be any chapters until after that… Sorry. Enjoy this chapter by the way!**

It was an old, worn out paper folded in half. Alphendi carefully pulled the stiff paper open to reveal a letter. He read it out loud for everyone to hear:

"Dear Hershel:

I do hope you're doing well, I know I am! My sister can't seem to stop pushing her wedding farther and farther along the year. But she says that this will be the last time, so you should be getting an invitation soon enough! Sometimes I wonder why I'm even here, I know I'm here to "help" her, but all I ever do is suggest which dress she should wear based off of what she and Mamma describe to me! I firmly believe that I'm just here because Sissy feels bad for me, oh well. I wish I could actually see her get married. I wish I could have seen you at our wedding. I wish I could see what our little baby looks like… But, I've seen my sister before and I've seen you before, all those years ago. And with how well things are described to me, I really don't even need to see you or her or anything else to know what you, he, she, or it looks like! Alphendi has your mouth, am I correct? Oh, I just know he's going to look so much like you! Oh, I can't stand the wait to see you Sweetie! I love you, bye bye!

Love,

Meme.

P.S. My mother is writing this letter for me, for please don't sit wondering about that!"

Meme smiled ear to ear as she heard the letter. "I can't believe he kept that!" She said as tears formed in her eyes. Everyone smiled at her.

"He really loved you a lot!" Alphendi said when he noticed that she was about to break down in tears. But it didn't really make a difference. She started to cry on Flora's shoulder, and everyone else seemed to want to join her.

"I'm sorry everyone, I just miss him so much! Why did he have to die? Why?" She continued to bawl and everyone started to wonder what they should do to comfort her.

"You'll see him again one day, Meme!" Flora said with a week smile. And at that, Meme stopped crying, but there were still tears streaming down her face.

"You're right, I'll see him soon enough… Thank you, Flora."

"You're welcome, Meme." Flora said with a smile. Alphendi then put the letter down on the table itself. Then he reached in and pulled out a rather odd trinket his father had kept inside the box.

"What in the world?!" Meme was rather shocked by Alphendi's statement and question.

"What is it, Alphendi?"

"It's a dead, tropical flower in a Ziploc bag!" Meme gasped and grabbed her chest as if she were about to have a heart attack. Both Flora and Angela held tightly onto her to make sure she didn't fall to the ground, and Luke, along with Lucas, prepared themselves with their phones to call an ambulance.

"Stop worrying about me!" Meme cried when she felt four hands grab onto her arms. "I'm just… surprised that Hershel kept that flower of all things!"

"Why? Where did he get it?" Randall asked curiously as he gave the dead flower a weird look.

"We got it on our honeymoon in Hawaii!" She said as a giant smile came to her face. Then, the flashback started…

A young Professor Hershel Layton wearing a Hawaiian shirt, shorts, and flip-flops walked quickly off an airplane, carrying Meme on his back much like a child since she couldn't see where she was going herself. He took a deep breath when he finally stepped onto the concrete ground of the airport.

"I can't believe you're afraid of airplanes! It's not like you haven't been in helicopters and all sorts of OTHER flying machines!" Meme said laughing.

"There's just… something about airplanes that won't let me sit at ease! And besides, this was my first time on an airplane while I've been on PLENTY of helicopters!" Meme kept laughing as a young man who worked at the airport walked over to the two, holding leis and smiling ear to ear.

"Why, hello there! Welcome to Hawaii! Would you two like some leis for your vacation?" Hershel nodded, and the man put a lei around each of their necks, careful not to startle Meme since he could tell she was blind by warning her before he put it on. "I've got one more thing, and THIS is something I've NEVER given anyone before!" He walked over to his desk a couple of steps away and grabbed a tropical flower from a vase. He then went over to Meme and stuck it in her hair. "A beautiful flower to help frame this beautiful woman's face!" Meme smiled and chuckled at the comment.

"Thank you, Sir!"

"Your welcome! I must be off now! Enjoy your stay in Hawaii!" The then young couple nodded and the man walked away.

Back to the present:

The flower was now on the table, and Alphendi's hand was back in the box, pulling out a pocket knife and smiling.

"Remember when I gave Dad a knife for Father's Day, Mom?" He asked as he looked at it happily.

"Yes," Meme replied. "after my mother and Dr. Schrader died, your father was feeling rather down-"

"So Luke, Flora and I decided to give him something special for Father's Day to try and make him feel better!"

"I made this box…" Luke started,

"I painted it like the Elysian box from one of our past adventures!" Flora continued,

"And I bought this pocket knife to go in the box." Alphendi finished. "I thought i'd been lost years ago!" Alphendi, Luke and Flora remembered the professor's face as it went from a lifeless one to an extremely happy one as the box was handed to him, and then as it grew to a bigger smile than anyone had ever seen him smile when he opened it up to see the pocket knife. "Gee, I really miss him…"

"We all do." Emmy replied. Everyone nodded in agreement, and they all just stood there for a moment, staring at the rest of what was in the box.


	6. The Picture and Meme's Story

**Oops! I accidentally posted this chapter twice, good thing I noticed that! If I had waited till I got back from vacation to look at this chapter, that would've been, humiliating! XD So glad I had a device I can do this on XD enjoy!**

Alphendi sighed after a while. "We all thought his heart was made of solid rock…"

"Yeah, but that was long before we found this box!" Taylor finished for her father-in-law.

"He used to always be so… happy. As a matter of fact, he was the most agreeable man you could come across back when I was young!" Luke said, Emmy nodded in agreement.

Flora looked up at Luke and stated plainly: "The key words for what you just said is 'USED to always be'! He grew so… well… you can't say that he was very agreeable, that's for sure!"

"But we still loved him, though… The same goes for you, right Flora?" Luke replied. Flora just nodded, she would have burst into tears if she had actually tried to answer.

"I think the professor deserves more praise than he's given!" Taylor said rather loudly. "I mean, we've always known it! It's not humanly possible for a man as amazing as you say he was to become as bad as we all make him out to be now! He obviously had a heart, from what I'm looking at. It's just that, well, 'I love you' was just hard for him to say! Some men can show it so easily, but other just can't seem to find a way! He can't be THAT bad!" Everyone nodded in agreement.

"I guess," Alphendi said. "but honestly, I can't remember him being his old self… ever. I'm honestly seeing a softer side of him for the first time, now that I can see the love he kept inside this box!" This touched everyone else in the room, and they all had to dry more tears from their eyes than they had already shed. Then Alphendi pulled out the next memory the professor kept inside the box they had found.

It was a picture. It showed a young Professor Layton standing in front of an old car. He was carrying Meme on his back and was looking at the camera, although she had her eyes closed, and rested her head on his. The funny part was, the professor wasn't wearing his usual attire, but a hoodie, jeans, sneakers, and no hat at all! Everyone seemed shocked, and after the picture was described to Meme, she just started laughing.

"Meme," Taylor started. "you never told me you and the professor's story, how you met, how you fell in love-"

"And how he ended up with this car!" Emmy interrupted, causing everyone in the room to laugh.

And at that, Meme started to remember and recall the story of the blossoming love between Hershel and Meme, telling everyone the story as it went:

Flashback-third person point of view:

A young Meme stood in front of Gressenheller University. Her appearance was the same as it was in the picture Taylor found, and she wore a trench coat with an obvious undershirt underneath. She stared at the door of the school, her heart pounding in her chest as she did. She didn't even move until she noticed an old woman who looked like a maid walk up to her.

"Are you taking a class here Sweetheart?" She asked kindly. Meme just nodded, as if mute. The woman smiled.

"Professor Layton's class?"

"Um, I'm not quite sure, actually."

"Well, we've got to fix that, haven't we?" Meme nodded, and the old woman took her into the university. Meme was taken to the office of an old man, the dean of the school, who seemed rather surprised to see the two.

"Can I help you?"

"This young lady isn't sure where she's supposed to be right now!"

"I can fix that! Can you tell me your name, my dear?"

"… Rosetta, Rosetta Stone." The dean started looking through his records.

"Ah, yes, Rosetta, the transfer student from New York?" Meme, or at this point Rosetta, nodded. And the dean smiled a rather large smile.

"You're supposed to be in Professor Hershel Layton's class. It hasn't started yet, so if I escort you you should be able to get there in time!" The dean stood up and walked out the door, being followed by the slightly confused Rosetta, and leaving the old woman, who had started cleaning by now, to herself. The two went over to an auditorium, where a countless amount of students were taking their seats, and a young man wearing brown pants, an orange shirt, a brown jacket, and a dark brown hat with red trim on it stood at a podium preparing for a lecture.

"Hershel!" The dean called out to the man. The man walked over to the dean, wearing a huge smile on his face that caught Rosetta's attention and caused her to blush just enough so that no one could tell.

"Rosetta, this is Professor Hershel Layton-one of you new professors here at Gressenheller-Hershel, this is Rosetta Stone-one of your new students." The dean announced. Hershel smiled, directly at Rosetta this time. He held out his hand to her, and she shook it. The dean left at that, leaving the two alone. Well, as alone as being in a room packed with collage students could be.

"How long has it been since you've been to school, Miss Stone?"

"Um, about two months." The professor seemed taken aback, but went back to his regular smile as he turned to one of the students sitting in the front of the auditorium and motioned him over. The student was a man. He had red hair, a tan face, glasses, and a huge smile.

"Yeah Hersh?" He said to the professor once he got within an arm's reach of the man.

"Randall, do you mind tutoring this young lady so she had catch up on what she's missed in the last two months?" Randall seemed a bit taken aback by the man's request, and didn't answer for a minute, just staring at him and giving him a weird look. "It's perfectly all right! You won't miss a thing! Right now we're doing a month-long study on the Mask of Chaos and the Akbadain ruins. If you would agree to tutor and Rosetta would agree to be tutored, I would be able to give her full credits for everything she missed!"

"Will she get credits for the Akbadain study?"

"I'll pull up a schedule so she'll get EVERYTHING she's missed and will have missed! So, will you two do it?" Rosetta and Randall looked at each other, then back at the professor, and nodded simultaneously. The professor smiled. "Very well then! For today, why don't you two get acquainted? Tutoring always tends to go better if you know each other! I'll have an official schedule ready by tomorrow!" The two nodded again, and walked out of the auditorium as the professor went to his podium and started up the lecture.

**Hope you liked it! For this chapter, I'd like as many reviews as I can get telling me what you guys thought of having Rosetta as the professor's wife! Are you liking this story so far? Is the story getting better or worse?**


	7. Randall and Meme's Conversation

**Sorry guys, but this will be a lot shorter than the last chapter! I'm on someone else's computer and don't have much time before I'm busy till next Sunday… UGH! :P Enjoy though! I'll try to post something nice and LONG next time around! :D**

"Well you sure seem to know a lot about that mask and the Akbadain ruins!" Rosetta commented happily as she and Randall walked through the halls and towards an unknown destination. Randall smiled.

"You bet! I discovered the mask myself, and I, along with Professor Layton back there, searched through those old ruins our very selves!"

"Really? That's awesome! You guys are like- like- archeology legends or something! Right? I don't really know anything about that subject so I guess I wouldn't know."

"You could put it that way…" Randall's face became sad as he spoke.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just that… Layton is a legend not just cause of the ruins, and neither am I. The thing is that he's mostly famous for helping people with their problems. Everyone goes to him for help! But me, I'm famous for bringing destruction and chaos to this place called Monte d'Or… I was such an idiot!"

"Well, did you fix the mess you made there? Whatever that was…"

"Um, yeah..."

"Well then, forget about it, I'm sure no one else is going to keep shoving whatever it is in your face if you stop doing it yourself."

"I guess you're right… Man, we just met and I'm already annoying you with my problems!" Randall said as he smiled at Rosetta. She laughed.

"You're not annoying me! I've made mistakes before in my life as well, bad ones! But I made them right, and then forgot them! Gee, I haven't been reminded about that robot accident for years… Until today actually!"

"The robot accident?"

"Please don't ask!" Just then, the two found themselves outside the University. Randall got himself in the perfect position to look at the entire University, after a few minutes of walking. He smiled.

"This place is the most beautiful school I've ever seen! I'm sure you'll be happy here, Rosa-me!"

"Rosa-me? What's that supposed to mean?" Randall shrugged.

"I like to come up with weird nicknames for people! The professor's name is Hersh!"

"I guess I can stand 'Rosame'. As long as no one turns that into 'Meme' or something like that!" And at that, the two walked back towards the University, laughing all the way.


	8. Couldn't He At Least Wait TIll Tomorrow?

**Hi! Sorry for not posting last Sunday… I was playing Layton Brothers Mystery Room (Starring our very own Alphendi Layton!) and wanted to finish it so I wouldn't have ANY inconsistencies! By the way, in Layton Brothers, Al has a… unique double-personality thing, but that's not a spoiler I promise. It's the same as Professor Layton being a gentleman. Am I making sense? Anyways! Enjoy! And PLEASE review! It's the only thing that'll keep me sain until the Azran Legacies comes out!**

*Back to the present*

Randall laughed as Meme finished recalling her conversation with the man.

"Little did you know that you would be stuck with the name 'Meme' for the rest of your life!"

Meme smiled at Randall's comment as she wiped a tear away from her eye. All these fond memories were starting to overwhelm her, but it wasn't that bad.

"And how did you two ever get to fall in love?" Luke asked curiously. "I'm sorry to say, but the Professor was down-right horrified of you last I'd seen him… But the next thing I knew I was getting an invitation to your wedding!"

"Oh, I remember that story! Part of it anyway…" Flora said with a somewhat swoony sigh as she herself recalled the day. "Meme, why don't you-"

But before Flora could get the next word in, everyone in the room was startled by the now sharp, somewhat cold voice of Alphendi. Everyone turned to see a now blood-red-headed, as opposed to his former, slightly purple tone of hair, Alphedi sitting in the corner of the room, pocket knife in one hand, eyes fixed on a stuffed bear that was in the other.

"Who cares?" Alphendi said as he took the knife and started to behead the doll. "Do all the details really even matter? It's all just 'Blah, blah blah, blah blah, blah love, marriage, kids… All the story telling is just pointless rubbish in my opinion."

At this point, Al had gotten the little bear's head off of the rest of it. Everyone looked disgusted.

"And the point of that was?" Emmy said with a slight tone of anger evident in her voice.

"Oh please." Alphendi answered as he tossed both halves of the bear across the room, rubbing it's fur slightly against Emmy's cheek. "Don't tell me you, of all people, don't get a kick in hurting things… and people."

Emmy looked shocked and a bit hurt. She paused for a moment, just staring at Al, everyone staring at her, until she finally let it all out in what was supposed to be a fit of rage.

"Just because I like to fight doesn't mean-"

"Shut your trap!"

Emmy was just about ready to thrust herself at Alphendi and kill him before Taylor walked calmly up to Alphendi and held her hand out in front of him in her own, silent way of demanding the knife from him. Alphendi, with a look of deep annoyance spread out across his face, put the knife carefully in his daughter-in-law's hand. Taylor then turned around, walked towards the table, put the knife in its rightful place along with the late professor's other relics, and waked calmly back to ALphendi's side. She knew how to handle this transformation he often times went through… She was used to it.

"Now Potty Prof…" She started, gaining a disdainful look from the man.

"Don't call me that! The only one I can stand that from is Lucy!"

Taylor paid no heed to Alphendi's request.

"Potty Pro! Do you want me to take you to your wife? Surely she'd be extremely upset if she found out that you started going on like this at a time like this! We want to hear the story, whether or not you care!"

"I WILL NOT BE TREATED LIKE A CHILD!" Alphendi burst out in anger. The way Taylor treated him in times such as these really got to him, to the point where he would want to kill her, but then turn back to normal through her absolutely careless attitude towards him… This was the same thing that always happened with his wife… It was strange.

As Al yelled, he stood up and looked Taylor in the eyes. But before anything else even had the chance to happen, Lucas walked over to him and grabbed his arms. He then started leading the boiling mad Alphendi to the door, but didn't quit make it since half way there Al broke loose of his son's grip, walking furiously out the door himself with an almost chilling:

"I can escort myself out! Carry on with your stupid story MOTHER!"

A long sigh followed the loud slamming of the door among those in the room, followed a couple of minutes later by a boiling mad Lucy walking into the workshop, to the surprise of everyone.

"Couldn't he at least wait till TOMORROW to start complaining 'bout his inheritance?" She asked angrily. Followed by a slight giggle from Taylor, Lucas, and Meme. The rest of those in the room weren't too amused by the three's "careless gesture" as Flora later called it. But they were his mother, son, and daughter-in-law, so they found it harmless.

"Would a story about how Meme and grandpa fell in love cheer you up a bit?" Taylor asked her mother-in-law kindly.

"You needn't cheer me up," Lucy began as the steam left her and the red color left her face slowly. "I shouldn't even be in here in't first place!"

"Nonsense!" Randall called out rather loudly. "You're his daughter-in-law! Stay and hear the story!"

After a minute of thinking, Lucy smiled, nodded, and took a spot between her son and Emmy. In order to soon after hear what she would forever call "T' sweetest love story I've ever heard!".

**What did y'all think? Was it long enough? Was it good? Did I talk too much about Alphendi? I don't mean to sound desperate, but I'd REALLY like to know what I can/don't have to improve on! :D Hope you liked it! (And don't hate Alphendi at this point…)**


	9. The Theater

"After my tutoring with Randall was finished," Meme began. "I started to actually take Hershel's class. After about a month, I had both a new friend, and a new crush! My friend's name was Melanie, she was my roommate and a transfer student like myself, and when we talked, I found out that she went to the SAME COLLEGE as me! The crush was, as you've probably guessed, Professor Hershel Layton! Now, when I finally confided in Melanie about my situation, she told me that if I ever wanted the professor to love me back, I couldn't be myself! I had to act in a totally different way!"

Flora giggled slightly as she noticed Luke's face when Meme said this, he looked as if a giant secret had just been revealed to him for the first time in his life! Which was pretty much the case here…

"But then, one day-"

Much like Flora before, Meme was interrupted by Alphendi. He walked into the room, his hair now back to purple-ish red, his face pale and almost sickly, holding a ball of brown thread with a sewing needle stuck inside it. Without a word from him or anyone else, he walked over to the stuffed bear he had just minutes ago beheaded, sat down, and started to sew it back together. Lucy smiled and walked over to him to give him a kiss on the cheek. He blushed, but didn't look up from what he was doing or even react. Everyone laughed, except Meme, who had Angela whisper what had just happened into her ear. Lucy sat beside her back-to-normal husband, plopping herself onto some kind of water chair that swished every time she moved. She then gestured for Meme to begin the story again, and after being told by Angela to, Meme did.

*Flashback: Third person point-of-view*

Rosetta, also known at this point as Rosa-me, and someday as Meme, stood in front of the mirror in her dorm room, giving it all sorts of weird looks, practicing her acting for her tutoring session with Professor Layton. Despite the confidant look she gave the mirror, her face all at once turned sad, and tears started rolling down her cheeks as she sat down on her bed, causing her make-up to start to run. She wiped a tear from her cheek as she thought about her tutoring sessions with her college professor. She didn't need them, she was perfectly fine on her own when it came to schoolwork and her grades didn't even go up because of them. These sessions were just another idea of Melanie's, attempting to help Rosa-me win the heart of the man whom history books would someday put on the list of the top ten most influential men and women in history. Rosetta looked at the time.

"OH NO! I'VE GOTTA GO MELANIE! BYE!" She called out towards the bathroom door as she quickly wiped off her excess makeup with a napkin and ran out the door, forgetting her books in the process.

Rosetta got to the professor's office only minutes later.

"Yes! I made it on time!" She cheered in a whisper as she lightly tapped the professor's door and put on a fake-as-paper smile. Layton, for some reason surprised by her showing up, opened the door and suppressed a sigh from slipping through his lips. He was a gentleman, so he couldn't admit it, but he realized that Rosetta far from needed the tutoring sessions he took time out of his day to do, and he was honestly annoyed, and terrified, of them. He put on his own fake smile and let Rosetta into the room to start the lesson.

It wasn't that far into the first hour of tutoring that Rosetta noticed that Layton wasn't exactly… there. He seemed overwhelmingly distracted by a piece of paper he held in his left hand the entire time. Not even putting it down when he was setting up some he for Rosetta and himself.

"Is something wrong?" Rosetta asked, completely forgetting her plastic face and putting on a face of worry and concern for her teacher as she put down her cup of tea.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing's wrong…" But Rosetta knew that this gentleman, in order to be a gentleman, was resorting to lying.

"I know that's not true! Come on, tell me what it is! You can trust me!"

The professor was in all honesty shocked by Rosetta's comment. He never would have pictured those words coming out of her mouth, or that look spread across her face.

"It really is nothing!" The professor started. "It's just that I was given two free tickets to the theater on Monday, and I now know why they gave them away! Absolutely no one goes to the theater on Mondays! Most of the time they're busy! Right now I'm left with no one to bring with me… And I don't want to just throw out a perfectly good ticket! Shame… Oh dear me, what a pathetic thing I'm getting all worked up about!" The professor turned bright red when he said this. Only now had he realized how very much so the situation was, after finally stating it out loud.

"No, not pathetic! But… sweet!"

"I'm sorry?"

"Only a true gentleman would be concerned about such things as this! Other's would have completely ignored the theater's generosity, and lack of money on Mondays, and thrown either one or both of those tickets away!"

Hershel smiled. This was a different Rosetta than the one he thought he knew, and he liked her, better than the other Rosetta, anyway. "Why, thank you!'

"You're welcome!"

"… Are you free on Monday? I still need to take someone to the theater!" He held out the extra ticket and hopelessly attempted to hide the blush in his cheeks. Rosetta nodded and took the ticket from the man. She then turned around and walked towards the door. The professor followed her to open the door, and when they got there, Rosetta turned to him to speak.

"We'll meet here at…" She looked at the ticket. "Seven o'clock at night on Monday. I'll wear my best dress, and I'll be myself! Not that crazy sociopathic freak I've been acting like this whole time to get your attention! Ok? Ba-bye!" And at that, Rosetta walked out the door and towards her dorm. Leaving Professor Layton to stand there in absolute shock.

Monday came, and at seven o'clock at night, Rosetta and the professor were in the Layton-mobile, headed towards the theater. It was a bit quite at first, but after about half an hour of driving, Rosetta found herself hearing the professor's life story, on her request of course. Then, all at once, she felt the car jolt to the right and spin out of control as a giant, stray truck went straight towards them.

**Did ya like it?**


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